Three Movements from the “Waisenhaus” Mass
from "Waisenhaus" Mass, K. 139
1.Laudamus te
2.Domine Deus
3.Et incarnatus est for TB choir and piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
edited by David Rayl
Notes:
ThesethreebriefduetsfromMozart’s“Waisenhaus”Massoffer an attractive and accessible introduction to music from the Classical Period. The twelve-year-old Mozart’s lyrical melodic writing, combined with rather modest ranges and technical demands,maketheseduetsidealadditionstotherepertoireforSA orTBchoirsofallages.
AlthoughformallyknownastheMassinCMinor,KV139(47a), theworkiscommonlyreferredtoasthe“Waisenhaus”Massbecause itwascommissionedfortheconsecrationofthenewlyconstructed Orphanage Church (Waisenhauskirche) in Vienna, a building that stillfunctionsasaparishchurch.Thepremiere,onDecember7, 1768, was an auspicious event, attended by the Empress Maria Theresa,herchildren,andmuchoftheimperialcourt.
EachduetisextractedfromalargermovementwithintheMass: “Laudamus te” and “Domine Deus” from the Gloria and “Et incarnatusest”fromtheCredo.“Laudamuste”and“Etincarnatus est”wereoriginallyscoredforsopranoandaltosoloists,while “DomineDeus”wasscoredfortenorandbasssoloists.“Laudamus te” has been transposed from G to F major to allow the three movementstobeperformedinsequence.Thiseditionoffersgreat flexibilityregardingperformance.Conductorscanperformjustone —oranytwo—orallthreemovements—intheorderpresented—or inanalternativeorder.
MozartmarkedeachofthemovementsasAndante,which,inthe eighteenthcentury,wasconsideredarelativelylivelytempo,only slightly slower than Allegro. The score provides tempo suggestions,butagracefulandelegantapproachismoreimportant thantheactualspeedoftheperformance.Theverticalstrokeson somenotesinthepianopartcomefromMozart’sorchestralscore andshouldbeinterpretedasbeingveryslightlyseparatedfrom thenotesbeforeandafter.Bynomeansshouldtheybeplayedtoo shortorwithtoomuchaccent.TranslationsoftheMasstextsare notprovidedsincetheyarereadilyavailableelsewhere.
Andante ( ≈ 88–94)